In the world of choral music, Paul Salamunovich comes about as close as possible to the divine. A disciple of the most serene Roger Wagner, the 80-year-old director emeritus of the Los Angeles Master Chorale has a resumé that reads a bit like a saint’s: In 1969, the Vatican decorated Salamunovich with a Papal Knighthood in the Order of St. Gregory. In 1988, his choir of St. Charles Borromeo Church sang for a crowd of 120,000 worshippers during the Pontiff’s Mass for the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul – the only American choir ever invited to do so. The North Hollywood-based group – which Salamunovich continues to direct, as he has done since 1949 – also sang for Pope John Paul II in private audience: once in Los Angeles, once in Rome.

Meanwhile in Hollywood, this same sacred vessel – in a slightly less saintly turn – has directed, arranged and conducted choral music in more than a hundred feature films and televisions productions, including Steven Spielberg’s A.I. and action pics like XXX and Air Force One.

“Paul Salamunovich is truly a legend,” says Magen Solomon, director of the USC Thornton Concert Choir, which shares a double bill with Salamunovich and the elite USC Thornton Chamber Choir at Newman Hall. (To see the complete concert program, click here.) “Anyone who has an opportunity to hear this concert should,” she advises, “because Paul truly is a master. And the Chamber Choir is phenomenal – they are better than many, many recording choirs.”

Truth be told, USC audiences will have several more chances to hear Salamunovich, who is filling in all this year at the helm of the 26-voice, mostly graduate-level Chamber Choir. The quasi-professional ensemble is currently “between directors” after the retirement of longtime choral conductor Bill Dehning last spring, and with the arrival of his replacement, Jo-Michael Scheibe from the University of Miami, not slated until fall 2008.

Friday’s double program – with Salamunovich and Solomon taking turns at the podium – is titled “Love, Sacred and Profane.” The repertoire straddles a half millennium of vocal music, the earliest being a courtly love song by 15th-century Spanish composer Juan del Encina, and the latest, the hypnotic “Dirait-on” from USC faculty composer Morten Lauridsen’s Les Chansons des Roses. Also on Friday’s bill are Palestrina\\'s “Exultate Deo” and the “Magnificat” of Cristóbal de Morales – plenty of opportunity to hear Salamunovich do what he does best, which is Renaissance and Gregorian chant.

The highlight of Solomon’s program for her 40-voice, mostly undergraduate-level USC Thornton Concert Choir is Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” a freestanding sacred work running about 25 minutes. The ensemble also sings excerpts from Brahms Zigeunerlieder (gypsy songs) and several shorter works.

]]> 2010-10-01 15:07:49 69 Enter at the Figueroa Street Entrance at 35th Street (#3)
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Disability parking on first floor only, there is no elevator in this parking structure.]]> Friday 10/26/2007: 7:30 PM 10/26/2007 10/26/2007 19:30 23:59 10/26/2007